Vehicle systems may be controlled by onboard and/or off-board operators. For example, rail vehicles (e.g., trains), automobiles, trucks, marine vessels, etc., may have persons onboard the vehicles in order to control operations such as throttle positions, brake applications, etc. In complex vehicle systems, several operators may be onboard to monitor and control operations of the vehicle systems. One operator may control throttle and brake systems while one or more other operators monitor other aspects of the vehicle systems, such as watching for obstructions along a direction of travel of the vehicle systems, monitoring the vehicle systems for unsafe operations, handling other mission planning activities and paperwork, etc.
One problem with having multiple operators onboard the same vehicle system is that the operators are limited to being on, and working on, the single vehicle system. An operator onboard one vehicle system is unable to control operation of another, separate and different vehicle system. For the operator to control one or more operations of another vehicle system, the vehicle system that the operator is currently on must stop to allow the operator to leave the current vehicle system and board another vehicle system in order to control operations of the other vehicle system. The operator is not able to concurrently control operations of multiple vehicle systems.
Off-board operation of some vehicle systems can include an operator disposed outside of the vehicle system with a remove control device. For example, an operator may have an operator control unit (OCU) and be located along the route on which the vehicle system is traveling or in a tower elevated above the vehicle system may remotely control the throttle of the vehicle system. But, the operator's remote control of the vehicle system is limited by the wireless communication range of the OCU and visual range of the operator, both of which can be limited to a mile (e.g., 1.6 kilometers) or less. Additionally, the OCU typically is communicatively linked with a single vehicle system to avoid the OCU inadvertently controlling another vehicle system. Consequently, the operator is limited to remotely controlling a single vehicle system over a relatively small and limited range.